


just close your eyes

by alifeofourown



Category: Union J (Band), X Factor RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hunger Games, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-28
Updated: 2012-12-28
Packaged: 2017-11-22 18:23:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/612830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alifeofourown/pseuds/alifeofourown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What will happen when it’s just the two of us left? ; a hunger games au</p>
            </blockquote>





	just close your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> This one's all for Frankie and yet it's completely my fault. Oops.

It’s freezing in the cave and no matter how closely they’re pressed together, George can’t seem to stop shaking. His bones feel like they’ve been frozen over, drenched in ice and filled with lead to weigh him down from the inside out, and he’s so exhausted but he can’t sleep. Can’t even force himself to close his eyes.  
  
A single sound of a cannon shot rings through his ears and he can barely hear Jaymi over it, the boy’s voice deadly quietly. “There goes another one,” he says and George just buries his face in Jaymi’s chest, clinging to him. He wishes that they still had the sleeping bag, the one he’d foolishly dropped as they ran from a pair of tributes determined to spray their blood across the rocky coast. There’s not much room to hide on a beachline, but George thinks they found a good spot, or at least one that will last them the night.  
  
“What do you think will happen when when we get down in numbers?” George asks, and he knows that’s not the question he’s really searching for. He wants to say the words that have been on the tip of his tongue since they disappeared into this cave, that have been on repeat since the moment he first met the older boy, but they won’t seem to escape his lips. It’s like something’s holding them back and no matter what George does, he can’t seem to get them out.  
  
 _What will happen when it’s just the two of us left?_  
  
When, not if. George won’t let himself think in ifs anymore.  
  
“We’ll deal with them,” Jaymi replies as he loops his arm around George’s shoulders, holding him closer to try and get the shaking to cease. “I’ll deal with them, and then...then you’ll go home. I’ll make sure of that.”  
  
George stares up at him, not sure what to say anymore. There’s a million things that are running through his mind right now, but all he can think about is the fact that Jaymi’s assuring that he’ll go home, that when it gets right down to it, he has no plans to stab him in the back or poison him to go home.  
  
The fact that Jaymi’s willing to sacrifice himself so George can go home... The thought is unfathomable.  
  
“I can’t go home knowing you died because of me,” George says and his voice is so tiny that he’s not even sure he gets the words out. Here in Jaymi’s arms, with the knowledge that there’s cameras on them everywhere and that everyone in their entire country’s watching, waiting to see who will die next, George knows that what Jaymi’s saying is something he shouldn’t be.  
  
After all, this is the Hunger Games. There’s not supposed to be compassion, not supposed to be sacrifices, but George is certain that the audience is eating this up, that they’re desperate for more, to know what Jaymi will say in response to his words, but he knows that none of them are more anxious to hear what the boy has to say than he is.  
  
It would be a terrible travesty if someone were to barge in right then and kill them before George could hear those words.  
  
“There are things in life worth dying for,” Jaymi says and George tenses as he listens to the words because he can think of those things, of crossing the borders to find food for his family, his seven siblings who need to be fed and taken care of. He thinks of Harriet, just a few years younger than him and completely terrified to have her name put into the reaping for future games to come. George doesn’t want to ever consider that any of his other family will have to face these terrors. He’d put his name in a thousand times if that meant they were spared these nightmares that will never leave his life. “There are things in life worth living for,” Jaymi adds and George nods quietly in agreement. “But there’s rarely a person that you find worth dying for and you’re that to me.”  
  
“What?” George is certain he’s misheard him. He’s certain that Jaymi will repeat his words for George to find that he said something completely different like, ‘there are worse things worth dying for,’ but Jaymi doesn’t.  
  
“You, George,” he says quietly as he looks at the boy. “You are worth dying for.”  
  
In that moment, George forgets the cold. He forgets the aching bones and the bruises and scrapes that will scar and remain. He forgets that there are teenagers, just like himself, looking to kill him in this very moment. George forgets all of these things, because Jaymi’s words do more than what an ‘I love you’ ever could. After all, ‘I love you’s are wonderful and can mean the world, but telling someone that they’re worth dying for is completely different. George opens his mouth to say something, anything, but Jaymi’s not quite finished and George isn’t sure he can handle any more words that come from the boy’s mouth.  
  
“I would gladly give up my life for you,” Jaymi says and George wants to cry. He wants to sob and let out all of the emotions that have been trapped in his chest, since his name was called out at the reaping and he felt the world cave in on him. “It would be my privilege.”  
  
“Stop,” George chokes out and he presses his face into Jaymi’s shoulder, letting the boy hold him close as he hides away in his skin. He doesn’t want to let the cameras see him cry, doesn’t want the sick satisfaction that they’d get from watching this moment that should be personal to ever grace their lives, and Jaymi understands. He quietly rubs at George’s back and says absolutely nothing as George cries, soaking the torn fabric of his shirt with tears that should never have had to been shed.  
  
He wants to tell Jaymi ‘I love you’ at least once before this all ends. He wants Jaymi to know that, no matter the outcome, that if they both end up dying at the hands of another or if Jaymi fulfills his plan or if George even beats him to it, that George loves him. That the bond he shares with Jaymi is stronger than any bond ever has been and George is certain of that, but he doesn’t want the moment shared with the world. He wants it to be private, his little confession of love, and George wonders if maybe he can get away with it when the Gamemakers think they’re asleep, but he doesn’t want to try.  
  
If there’s a better moment for those words than now, George isn’t sure when it possibly could be. The last thing he wants is to say them on his deathbed, or worse, Jaymi’s. He just wants tonight to be theirs, here in this freezing cave with the bare minimum of supplies, George wants it to be their own and it kills him to know it never will be.  
  
“I love you,” he whispers and he knows that there is no better time, that there could never be a better one, and when he pulls back to look at Jaymi, the boy’s staring at him. “I love you,” George repeats and he lifts a hand up to Jaymi’s chest, resting his palm over Jaymi’s heart. “I want you to know that, just in case anything happens-”  
  
“It won’t.”  
  
“Just in case,” George repeats. “You’re worth dying for too, Jaymi, and I want you to know that I love you and my life will be absolutely dreadful without you in it.”  
  
Jaymi looks at him quietly and he shakes his head. “You’ll survive, I promise you,” he says quietly. “There’s nothing too special about me. Surprised they didn’t give me a two when they ranked us.”  
  
George barely manages a laugh, a weak chuckle that’s watery and more of a sob than anything else. “I’m serious,” Jaymi says as he gently prods at the boy. “Don’t know where they went wrong, really, giving me a ten.”  
  
“Clearly you deserved it,” George says and Jaymi sighs a little as he wraps George up in his arms.  
  
“Come here you little tree monkey.” Jaymi pulls George close and he presses his face into the boy’s hair. “We need to sleep while we can. Dawn’s sooner than you think and they’ll find us if we stay here past then.”  
  
There’s no desire to sleep, not even the slightest hint of want because there’s such a limited time left with Jaymi that George doesn’t want to let it go, but he knows that he’ll be absolutely no use to the boy if he stays awake. “Goodnight, Jaymi,” he whispers and when Jaymi tells him to have good dreams despite the knowledge that they’ll both barely sleep and when they do will be plagued with nightmares, George still manages a smile and tells him to do the same.


End file.
